Paris, Stockholm The US chip manufacturer Globalfoundries (GF) and the European semiconductor manufacturer STMicroelectronics are jointly building a semiconductor factory in France. On Monday, the two companies estimated the total investment for the new location near the borders with Italy and Switzerland at several billion euros, including a “significant” contribution from France. The exact height was not disclosed. A person familiar with the matter told Reuters the total investment was about $5.7 billion.
The plant, which will be built next to STMicroelectronics’ existing plant in Crolles, is expected to reach full capacity by 2026. Then up to 620,000 wafers in a size of 18 nanometers are to be produced annually. Around 1,000 new jobs are to be created.
EU woos European chip companies
“We will have more capacity to support our European and global customers in the transition to digitalization and decarbonization,” said STMicroelectronics CEO Jean-Marc Chery. The new factory will help the company to increase sales to over $ 20 billion as planned. “The partnership investment with the French government, together with our long-term customer contracts, creates the right economic model for GF’s investment,” said Globalfoundries CEO Thomas Caulfield.
The EU wants to become more independent of chip manufacturing in Asia and is courting large companies. At the beginning of the year, it relaxed the financing rules for semiconductor factories under the European Chips Act, thus paving the way for investments worth billions.
Intel plans chip plant in Magdeburg
The goal is to double Europe’s global market share to 20 percent by 2030. Currently, chip supply chains are disrupted, especially in the automotive industry.
In March, the US semiconductor company Intel presented plans for investments of $ 88 billion throughout Europe and chose Magdeburg in Germany as the location for a huge new chip plant. In France, the construction of a new European research center is planned, which would create 1000 new jobs.
